Finding Aid for Army Specialized Training Program Records, 1917-19, 1943-45 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: Army Specialized Training Program Records, 1917-19, 1943-45

ID: 25/3/45

Primary Creator: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Department of Military Science

Extent: 1.0 cubic feet

Arrangement: Chronologically and alphabetically thereunder

Date Acquired: 12/01/2003

Subjects: Army Specialized Training Program, Student Army Training Corps, World War I, World War II

The Army Specialized Training Program Records (1917-19, 1943-45) include correspondence, course descriptions, grades, ledger cards, and rosters related to the education of students involved in the Student Army Training Corps (World War I) and Army Specialized Training Program (World War II).

Military training has been a part of the University of Illinois curriculum since 1868. In that year, the Illinois Industrial University was officially opened in compliance with a requirement of the Morrill Land Grant of 1862.¹ By laws of Congress and the state, the University was required to teach Military Tactics to its students. All able-bodied male students of the first and second years were enrolled in the companies of the University Battalion, and received instruction from one to three hours each week.² World War I severely affected the University ROTC program. By the end of the school year 1916-17 all the officers were ordered away. Only one officer, Major Edward W. McCaskey, U.S.A. retired, was assigned for 1917-18. The Student Training Corps, coming in the fall of 1918, was a further serious set back. This program converted the University into a military school for all practical purposes. It lasted for only four months and, in effect, replaced the ROTC. It left the ROTC in a position of much reduced effectiveness for this period.³ In 1961, the name was listed as Department of Military Science.⁴

1. A Brief History of the University of Illinois ROTC, 1918, p. 1.

2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 10th Report, 1881, p. 39.

3. A Brief History of the University of Illinois ROTC, 1918, p. 2.

4. University of Illinois Undergraduate Study Catalog, 1961, p. 93.

Army Specialized Training Program
Student Army Training Corps
World War I
World War II

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Access Restrictions: Folders marked [RESTRICTED] in the Box/Folder List are available only with University Archivist's approval of a completed Request for Access to Archival Student Records form.

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/2503045.pdf

PDF finding aid for Army Specialized Training Program Records (25/3/45)